


Not so Bionic Man

by Chibifukurou



Category: The Losers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-21
Updated: 2013-01-21
Packaged: 2017-11-26 07:57:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/648314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibifukurou/pseuds/Chibifukurou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A couple of dime-store security agents are about his speed, what with his current handicap. </p><p>It's not exactly one arm tied behind his back, but a bionic leg doesn't exactly lend him speed or increased mobility. They might live in a world of Superheroes, but this isn't science fiction. A leg that is more screws and steel plates than muscle and bone is never going to be anything but a pain in the ass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not so Bionic Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OccamsPhaser](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OccamsPhaser/gifts).



Technovore wasn't known for his well thought out plans. That being said, even he had to admit that going after Wade and MAX with only two hours' warning and no backup easily at hand, was a totally nuts.

When he'd decided to play possum two years back, he hadn't thought that it would take this long to get back to his team, to Carlos.

The Losers had always functioned as a semi-autonomous anti-hero vigilante group - at least that was the party line.

In reality they had worked for the local government as one part retrieval agents, one part enforcers. It had been a stop-gap plan by the town Mayor to keep the city from getting into the same situation as so many other port cities, run rife with Superhero and Supervillain teams that tore the city apart on a weekly basis just to prove themselves superior.

It had also been the most fun Jensen had ever had. Hanging out with other Supers, kicking villainous butt - they’d been like the A-team on crack.

Then everything had gone wrong.

Their little town of Point Reyes was the perfect smugglers' hide-away. Small enough that they didn't have the government breathing down the port authorities' necks, and big enough that nobody would notice a few suspicious looking shipping crates came in on international freighters. Even the Losers' overblown reputation hadn't been able to keep interested parties from making a play.

Not the entire Supervillian community, but one of their most reckless members: MAX. True identity unknown, powers unknown and only one known associate: Wade Ackles. Jensens' jackass of an ex-brother in law, which was the whole reason Jensen had found out that MAX was in the area. Wade had shown up at the house Jensen shared with Heather and Jesse, probably planning to beat Heather into submission and take Jesse with him. He was that kind of arrogant jackass. Instead, he'd found Jensen in his underwear in the middle of hacking the town council servers.

The encounter hadn’t gone well. But Wade had left him alive, in a puddle of his own blood and piss. It had taken months to get to the point where he could even stand.

Not that Jensen would let that keep him from taking out MAX’s little world dominations scheme.

Jensen had tipped the Mayor’s office off to the load of Snukes and money that came into the port and hired the assassin that killed Roque before he could put the Clay into the ground, all before blowing up his own hide-out to cover his tracks. 

With two members of their team ‘dead’ the Losers had been out for MAX’s blood. Between that and the Mayor’s personal security going through every shipment coming through the port, MAX and Wade had backed down.

Now they were back in town without warning, and flying way more under the radar than they had the last time. All this added up to one of two things: either they were back to take the surviving Losers out, or they had made another plan to take over Point Reyes. Whatever they had planned, Jensen was going to have to work fast to make sure they didn’t stick around.

# # #

Carlos still hadn't moved. It was stupidly sentimental of him, and a pain in the ass because that meant that instead of a quick in and out, Jensen had to take the time to break into the downstairs foyer and drag his useless leg up two painful flights of stairs to reach the front door of what had once been their shared apartment. He spent the climb grumbling to himself quietly so that he didn’t think too hard about what staying here meant about Cougar’s feelings for him. If he thought too hard about it he’d tear up. Bad enough that worry was already punching a hole right through his gut. If MAX figured out that Jensen and Technovore were the same person, his first target would be Carlos. 

Carlos would be an easy target too, since Wade had to have cased the place, the last time they were in town.

Part of him wanted to bundle Carlos up and get him out of here, to somewhere safe, but the more logical half of his brain stopped him. Jensen wanted Wade gone and if he let himself get distracted by trying to save Carlos he would give MAX and Wade more time to sink their roots into the city. Jensen wasn’t going to let that happen, so he’d just have to make sure to send them packing before they had time to come for Carlos.

Jensen stuck a bright green envelope to the apartment door with a sticker, emblazoned with Cougar's vigilant shield. It's subtle enough the neighbors will hopefully think it's nothing important if they happen by, but obvious enough that Cougar's kitty-cat curiosity should take over. Inside there is nothing but a freeze frame of Wade and MAX going through port authority and a sticky note with his Technovore logo on it. It should be warning enough without giving Carlos any way to track Jensen down.

Because if Jensen actually has to have a conversation with Carlos, there is no way he’s not going to blurt out who he is. Particularly not if Cougar started to question the fact that Technovore used the same USB symbol as Jensen used to, back in his Jmageddon days. The same USB symbol tattooed over Carlos' heart, a match to the cougar paw-print decorating Jensen's chest.

Still Jensen wasn't going to let Carlos deal with what’s coming without warning him first. It’s not like Jensen has anybody else to warn anyway. He'd left Pooch a house back east. Right next to the one he'd bought for Heather, with enough money to move there, and a safe full of new IDs for him and Jolene.

Which only left Cougs and the Boss. And the Boss could take care of himself. Him and his crazy girlfriend both, taking over the roles of the city's new Vigilantes and leaving Cougar to drown his memories in rot-gut liquor and a menial job at the local doll making factory.

# # #

Jensen could do subtle. Maybe not well, but well enough to get over a wall and into Max's hideout without being caught. Unfortunately his luck only held until he was trying to get out.

Max apparently decided that he needed to hire a new coder since their last run-in. It took an extra half-hour Jensen most definitely didn't have to get through the security measures protecting MAX's servers, which meant he ran into the guard patrol on their twice nightly sweep of the office buildings.

He couldn't climb up into the air ducts to avoid them like he used to, so he was stuck using the close range tasers built into the wrist-cuffs of his uniform, an idea he had totally stolen from old Black Widow comics, but in his defense Natasha was one Bass ass woman.

Jensen made it out of the offices and into the courtyard before he got blocked back in. Which unfortunately wasn’t that hard. Jensen is a lot of things -vigilante, tech god, nerd, just to name a few - but a close combat specialist he was not. The handful of dime-store security agents he’s facing off against are about his speed, what with his current handicap. It's not exactly one arm tied behind his back, but a gimp leg bolted into a bionic brace didn't help his already piss-poor fugh ting ability. They might live in a world of superheroes, but this wasn't science fiction. Even with a state-of-the-art brace a leg that was more screws and steel plates than muscle and bone was never going to be anything but a pain in the ass. 

There was a low, howling sound from the far side of the compound. If it was anywhere else Jensen would be worried about the alarm attracting the police. In this case Jensen was more worried about Wade showing up before he could make it out onto the streets.

The city council might look the other way if a vigilante disappeared near the personal compound of one of their biggest contributors, but if said contributor's bodyguard took on said vigilante on a city street, it would raise some major red flags. Something Wade would want to avoid if he and MAX were keeping a low profile.

Jensen settled onto the ball of his good foot, and prepared for some serious pain when he inevitably ended up using his bad leg as a club. 

Then the sound of howling cut off, and the whole area went calm. So quiet Jensen could hear his opponents’ heavy breathing. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He knew this feeling. He'd felt often enough back when he was fighting with the Losers. The absolute stillness that came with being in the eye of a storm. Perfect sniping conditions and one of Cougar's favorite ways to use his ability to control the wind. 

A soft sound like the pop of a champagne bottle cork echoed from some far-off corner. Less than a second later, a bleeding hole appeared in one of the security guards’ skulls. A second guard had all of five seconds to gape like a landed fish before he got taken down too, this time with a hole through the temple. The rest are smart enough to get out of Jensen’s way and find cover up against the compound walls.

“Damn!” Jensen whispered, before he remembered he had to stay silent. The last thing he needed was for Wade to get his voice off of the security cameras. It would blow his cover.

If that happened, Jensen would be so screwed.Wade was a nasty fucker, but never nastier than when he knew you personally.

Not that he had more than a few seconds to contemplate it. The eerie calm dissipated and he could hear yelling coming from the compound, getting louder fast. 

He turned, trying to figure out how to get back to the climbing rig he had set up on the other side of the compound wall. Then the gates exploded into a pile of sticks, as a tornado touched down just long enough to tear the doors from their hinges. Damn! Cougar had to be completely out of his mind angry, if he was calling down tornadoes. Jensen needed to get out of here now. It was not going to take Wade long to figure out who was behind this little break-in, not with the collateral damage they were leaving behind.

# # #

Fin  
Jensen made it the three blocks to his nearest cache of weapons and supplies. It only took ten minutes to change, and most of the time spent removing his cybernetic brace and replacing it with one that won’t draw as much attention. Because Wade wouldn't spare any attention to a gimpy civilian with an old-school brace.

The last thing he did before sneaking back out of his hidey-hole was to pull on a baseball cap and tuck a gun down the back of his loose cargo pants. Then he was just another one of the thugs who litters the city streets. No prospects and no skill, far beneath the notice of MAX or any other Supervillain.

# # #

Cougar was waiting for Jensen back at his home base. Jensen wondered for a second about what favors the sniper had called in to get the address, but it wasn't worth extended thought. 

Staring at him was more important. It felt so remarkably good to see him at Jensen’s desk, feet propped up on the desktop, with the chair balanced at a precarious angle. His hat was pulled down over his face, only a shadow and a few strands of hair left visible in the muted glow of the laptop screen. 

“Idiot.” Cougar’s growled, loud enough that it created echoed in the empty warehouse.

“Ah Cougs, don’t be like that!”

Cougar was across the room, hands twisted in Jensen’s shirt, before Jensen could say anything else. “You were dead.”

“I’m sorry baby. I didn’t want to hurt you, but you had to think I was dead.”

Cougar slammed Jensen’s back into the wall and pressed their lips together.

Jensen moaned, and collapsed into Cougar's hold. It had been too long, and right then it didn’t matter that they had been apart for two years. All that mattered was that they were together again. “Hey Cougs, I’ve got a bed over in the other room, think we can finish this ‘discussion’ there?”

Cougar used his hold on Jensen’s shirt to drag him towards the door, which Jensen was taking as approval of the plan.

It was a waste of the time they could be using to uproot MAX and Wade, but hey, they weren’t Superheroes, they were Losers. They could afford to be a little selfish. Besides, Wade and MAX would still be around in the morning.

 

# # #

Fin


End file.
